Marketing revolves around discovering and meeting your customers’ needs. If you are able to do this, you, as a business owner or brand manager, can attract leads and convert them into paying customers.

Digital marketing, meanwhile, is likely the most prevalent form of marketing there is today. This is marketing translated into websites, search engines, blogs, emails, and social media, for instance. The major upside to this is that you can instantly interact with real customers. Digital marketing strategies often include a mix of online advertising, SEO, social media marketing, and content creation, among others.

What is content marketing?

Enter content marketing – this pertains to content that is created, published, and distributed to a target audience or audience segments..

In a world where technology is ubiquitous, where people have become accustomed to having all their needs (and wants) met through online means – remote work, instant communication, online shopping – content marketing has become a necessity for businesses to survive. Especially since the pandemic, people have been driven indoors, businesses have adjusted to no-contact, cashless transactions mediated by mobile or Internet apps. GCash, for example, is a popular means of paying for certain goods. You can even pay bills and purchase insurance on the app.

Content creation has never been more competitive and lucrative. In fact, the global content marketing market size was calculated to be worth USD407,300 million this year and is predicted to balloon to more than double that figure: USD877,660 million, to be precise.

Content marketing is actually a key component of a sound digital marketing strategy: it drives material for social media posts and emails to subscribers who want updates on your brand.

Just last year, 1.134 trillion megabytes of data were being consumed on a daily basis by over four billion Internet users. Content marketing has the power to make a community of viewers, listeners, and readers, to be aware of and be a fan of your brand. In creating content, your existing customer base and your bank of potential customers expect high-quality content that is useful and relevant to their needs. By far, content marketing is one of the most powerful tools a marketer has at its disposal.

Does content length really affect my business?

The short answer here is yes. It may not seem like it, but as a marketer, you have to know when to use messages that are short and sweet, and when to employ longer content that provides depth through details. Here are some things to keep in mind when creating content.

Post length affects your rankings

A social media post or website copy that is too short or too long can affect your site’s ranking on a search engine. The number of words your content contains can either limit or otherwise drown the most salient information your audience could be looking for.

Word count can influence your content’s authority on a subject

Content length also has the ability to convince users that your page is worth reading, and more importantly, sharing with others. Content that is of an adequate length can increase its authority on the topic it tackles. The more people read and share your post or article, the stronger it becomes. Your audience will then be more likely to view you as a reliable source of information on a certain subject, not to mention Google and the other search engines.

Word count contributes to how long a visitor stays on your page

Remember that Internet users are constantly fed a barrage of information every time they open their computers or log on to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and practically any website. Even if your post does contain some information on what your audience is looking for, too long or too-short a copy can disinterest them. Copy that is well-written and will keep readers engaged.

Word count works with SEO to boost rankings

For search engine optimization to be effective, your copy has to contain keywords, which are usually what users enter in their search engine. Your keyword should appear a certain number of times in a “natural” – that is, not forced – way. The frequency of the keyword in your content influences how Google ranks a website. Blogs or articles that have 1,890 words usually end up on the first page. Even then, your content must have depth and cover all important points of a topic.

On the whole, word count does matter – but only to an extent. It’s easy to get caught up in counting how many words you have, but you have to remember the more important part: create content that has substance and is of interest to your target audience.

Well-written content that answers their questions meets their needs, and keeps them engaged will always win against content that meets the word count demand, but is full of nothing but fluff.